Topical items and views on the impact of digitisation on publishing and its content and the issues that make the news. This blog follows the report 'Brave New World',
(http://www.ewidgetsonline.com/vcil/bravenewworld.html ), published by the Booksellers Association of the UK and Ireland and authored by Martyn Daniels. The views and comments expressed are those of the author.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Google Must Be Having A StreetView Laugh

Someone in Google must have more money than sense as they actually deployed their Street View cars to Bangalore. As I write this I am in fact in Bangalore and know too well the traffic chaos that is India and in particularly the big cities. Today I was stuck in traffic and what was on a map a short journey turned into 45 mins of honking and a tribute to the special awareness of Indian drivers who miss an accident by sometimes thin air. As for mapping the streets that conveniently often are not in English and don’t exist then that is another matter.

However we are saved for putting yet another car into this madness as Google’s cars have been grounded after an objection from the city police. Google, received a letter from the Commissioner of Police of Bangalore asking it to stop the cars. MediaNama, claim the police also have reservations regarding legality of Google's Street View in India. Street View is claimed also by some that the filming falls under the FDI (foreign direct investment) policy that governs investment and participation by foreign companies in Indian media.

Personally I don’t see the point of filming traffic jams, tut tuts, hairy vehicle movements and the odd street but it could be a super deterrent for anyone thinking they will hire a car and drive in India.

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About Me

Before entering publishing I worked for many years as a Senior Executive in blue chip organisations in the retail, oil and automotive sectors. My publishing induction was initially as Director of Strategic Development at VISTA. There I was responsible for, and a contributor to, their highly acclaimed ‘Publishing in the 21st Century’ research series, the primary creator behind publishing services PubEasy and ‘batch.co.uk’, the initiator of the development of new Front Office systems to support publishers. In 2006 I joined Value Chain International(VCIL) initially as VP Marketing, Media and Publishing before becoming their President in 2009. In July 2011 the company's operations were acquired by Syncordia. I hold two non executive positions with publishing industry players Bibliophile Ltd and Haven Group and currently setting up Read Petite a service focused on providing digital short form material online via subscription.
Email mdaniels@opus57.co.uk